VGC Rain/Tailwind team

[eyreland1055]

This is my first time building a team in a long time, so I only kind of know what I'm doing. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. That being said, let's look at the team.

Pelipper @ Damp Rock
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 0 Atk / 252 Def / 0 SpA / 4 SpD / 0 Spe
Bold Nature
- U-Turn
- Scald
- Roost
- Tailwind

Fairly standard peliper set. I went with scald over hurricane because I have another hurricane abuser and the chance to pass around a few burns seemed too good to pass up. Tailwind is there to help my non-swift swim pokemon. Roost let's sit stay around longer and U-turn should set up some opportunities to get frailer pokemon (ie Noivern) in.

Goodra @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 HP / 0 Atk / 252 Def / 0 SpA / 4 SpD / 0 Spe
Bold Nature
- Rain Dance
- Rest
- Sludge Bomb
- Dragon Pulse

This is a set that I've wanted to try for a long time, and part of the reason I decided on a rain team. Hydration in the rain will let goodra shake off any status conditions as well as let him endlessly spam rest. Rain Dance is there to make him completely self sufficient. That'll hopefully alleviate some of the problems inherent in rain stalling. Dragon pulse is a solid stab move and sludge bomb is there to kill/damage anything that would be difficult otherwise (faries)

Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 0 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Fake Out
- Ice Beam
- Muddy Water
- Giga Drain

I've seen this set elsewhere and adjusted it to give him a little more staying power. I went with Giga drain over energy ball so he can last longer. Fake out is there to support the pokemon that appreciate dealing with one threat at a time (Noivern, Drakovish). Muddy Water is there for its spread and Ice beam is an important coverage move. I'm a little uncertain on this set because I'm not sure Assault vest Ludicolo will be able to hit hard enough.

Noivern @ Focus Sash
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 4 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 252 SpA / 0 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Draco Meteor
- U-Turn
- Protect

This is another set I've wanted to try out for awhile. Noivern is incredibly fast, meaning that he should be able to get off a few rain-boosted hurricanes even out of tailwind. Tailwind should only help make sure he doesn't get outspend. He's got a focus sash to make sure he can get off at least one or two. Draco meteor is a powerful stab. Protect let's him hide for a turn while tailwind is set up or a threat is dealt with and u-turn let's him deal a little damage on the switch out. Most of the time he'll be using hurricane.

Dracovish @ Choice Band
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Rock Slide
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs

Honestly, the moves here other than Fishious Rend don't matter that much. Dracovish benefits from tailwind even more than Noivern does. Rain helps boost Fishious Rend's power even more than usual. Crunch and Psychic are there for coverage at the odd time they may be needed. Rock Slide is there for its spread. It's a fairly standard dracovish set.

Barraskewda @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 0 HP / 252 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Liquidation
- Psychic Fangs
- Ice Fang

Barraskewda is my other swift swim abuser. Close combat is for steel types, which my team would otherwise struggle with, and his other moves provide solid coverage. Liquidation is a solid stab move that has spread. I was uncertain what to put in my last slot until I stumbled upon this set. I think it fills in the physical sweeper niche that, other than Dracovish's Fishious Rend, I had left unfilled.

As you can probably tell, I'm not very good at building teams. Any advice I can get would be extremely helpful. Thank you!

 

[SoulBadguy0408]

I don't think Rain is very good in this current year of VGC with Dynamax making weather easier to change and speed easier to gain. Changes to the speed mechanics I don't think has helped Rain teams. Trick Room is one of the more common/meta teams, which TR has a good match up vs faster teams.

However, even if I don't think it is good I still like the team and think it has ways to be improved. I think that one problem is that you are leaning too hard into it being a Rain Team. Rain should be an option, not a requirement and with that being said I think that I personally would drop Barraskewda and Noivern. Noivern is the most important Pokemon to drop as while I understand what you are trying to do it is just not a good Pokemon in VGC and this frees up Focus Sash for another Pokemon. Barraskewda I think if you give it a Choice Band and the ability Propeller Tail you have an improved Match up vs Hatterene which is used in Trick Room, but I think it isn't a good VGC Pokemon just because of how frail it is. However Dusclops is the more important TR setter and Barraskewda not being able to deal with it is for me a reason to not use it as you really only need 1 maybe 2 Rain abusers.

252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Hatterene in Rain: 178-211 (108.5 - 128.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Barraskewda Liquidation vs. 252 HP / 92+ Def Eviolite Dusclops in Rain: 79-94 (53.7 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Barraskewda Max Geyser (130 BP) vs. 252 HP / 92+ Def Eviolite Dusclops in Rain: 105-125 (71.4 - 85%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

This is the set that I would change Pelipper to is a Focus Sash set.

Pelipper @ Focus Sash
Ability: Drizzle
Level: 50
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Hurricane
- Tailwind
- Protect

VGC is a fast format so you are not going to benefit from Damp Rock extending weather from 5 to 8 turns if Dracovish can win in less than 5 turns. Max moves that change weather can also interfere with Damp Rocks usefulness. Pelipper isn't the bulkiest Pokemon and so even with 252 HP and 252+ Def you can still get knocked out before you set Tailwind, mainly by attacks on the special side. Instead what Focus Sash will do is guarantee that you survive a single hit giving you a higher chance of getting a move off and if you get doubled up on then at least your partner Pokemon is damage free and can do something that turn.

Goodra is the next thing I would change, since you are not sure that Ludicolo can hit hard enough then I think you can change it to Life Orb and give Goodra the AV. If you decide to keep AV Ludicolo then you can maybe run Goodra as Weakness Policy. Either way I think that stalling isn't good in Doubles since two Pokemon can attack you and Goodra would benefit more from being ran offensively. Sap Sipper is a better ability to use as it makes Goodra immune to grass moves and therefor immune to Sleep Powders. This combined with it's massive Sp.Def stat is going to give it a good usage vs Sun teams, and as a weather team you are going to struggle vs opposing weather.

Goodra @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sap Sipper
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Def / 156 SpA / 4 SpD / 60 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Sludge Bomb
- Protect

Not the most optimal Goodra set, but it is an example of maybe where you could go with it. Weakness Policy can be replaced with another item depending on personal preference I just went for WP because AV is taken by Ludicolo and I would rather stick to common items than use Life Orb or something else that could go onto another Pokemon. However, if you did decide to move AV from Ludicolo to Goodra than you could probably change the EVs to do even better vs Sun teams.

156+ SpA Goodra Max Lightning (130 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Charizard: 154-182 (50.3 - 59.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Solar Power damage
252 SpA Life Orb Solar Power Charizard Max Airstream (130 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Goodra in Sun: 134-160 (68 - 81.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Solar Power Charizard Max Airstream (130 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Goodra in Sun: 134-160 (34 - 40.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Solar Power Charizard Max Airstream (130 BP) vs. 236 HP / 140 SpD Assault Vest Goodra in Sun: 82-97 (42 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Using AV to go from a 2HKO to a 3HKO could be very good. Also the 60 Spe EVs are just to hit 108 which out speeds base 95 Pokemon after a Max Airstream from Pelipper or you could lower it down to 52 EVs for 107 speed which out speeds Dragapult under Tailwind, or just drop the investment altogether for more bulk and more offense.

Lastly with Dracovish I would consider maybe going Scarf or Jolly just for more speed which could be useful for a better offense as it means a better chance to attack first. Personally I would try the scarf as you are not as reliant on Tailwind from Pelipper.

Depending on whether or not you decide to replace Barraskewda or not and assuming you replace Noivern, you have a lot of options that you could use for the last slot or two. A Steel type could deal with your Goodra and Dracovish both being Dragon types and having the shared weaknesses of Dragon and Fairy. Certain steel types like Corviknight are good vs Sand which helps vs opposing weather, Ferrothorn would be a nice Pokemon to have vs Trick Room, or Durant for fast offense that is not reliant on Tailwind or Rain. Steel types are also weak vs fire so even if not requiring Rain to be good they are still benefiting from it.

6th slot is then a domino effect from the 5th slot so if Corviknight is chosen then maybe go Raichu or Rhyperior for lightning rod to deal with the electric weakness. However VGC team building is normally based around picking a core of 2-3 Pokemon and adding another Pokemon or 2. After you have 4 Pokemon you can add things that fix your weaknesses which in the case of Pelipper + Ludicolo you are looking to go fast and hit hard using the boost that Rain gives to water type attacks meaning that you need to counter Trick Room and other weathers.